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Joachim's carousing at this wedding a week ago was the last straw for princess

This is the moment the fairy tale turned to dust.

When they arrived at the wedding of one of the richest and largest landowners in Denmark, Hong Kong-born Princess Alexandra and Prince Joachim, second in line to the throne, stood arm in arm.

Despite rumours their marriage was on the rocks, the high-profile couple posed willingly for photographers and chatted amiably with  dignitaries, royalty and some of the rich and famous of Europe.

But before the celebrations were over, the nine-year marriage of the Danish royal couple was at an end.

Details emerged yesterday  of the row at the high-profile function last Saturday that finally forced Alexandra, 40, and Prince Joachim, 35, apart.

'It was the last straw,' one royal observer told the South China Morning Post.

On Thursday the royal palace confirmed speculation the couple had been leading separate lives for months, with its announcement that divorce proceedings were under way.

Danish newspapers had seen it coming. One blared across its front page three weeks ago, 'He parties, she works hard'. Another ran the headline,  'The fairy tale is over'.

The divorce is the first since 1846 for Europe's longest-lasting monarchy, which goes back 11 centuries.

According to Paul Madesen, editor of the popular Copenhagen tabloid Ekstra Bladet, which yesterday devoted 23 pages to the royal divorce, the marriage had been destined for failure.

Princess Alexandra, a former Hong Kong stockbroker, Island School student and Discovery Bay resident, had divided her time between performing humanitarian work and raising the couple's two young children,  Mr Madesen said.  Meanwhile her husband had developed into something of a playboy, he said.

'It appears Joachim had become  ... a party prince with a passion for loud music, strong drink and attractive female company,' Ekstra Bladet  reported.

The final chapter in the fairy tale came during the wedding of Count Bendt Wedell, 25, and Pernille Korsbak Poulsen at Wedellsborg Castle on the island of Fuen.

'The prince was drunk and, according to independent sources, he was getting close and very intimate with some of the other ladies,' said Mr Madesen.

'The princess left, alone, before the function was over.

'She shouted to her driver: 'I want my car now.' And she stormed out.

'After that, it is understood that divorce proceedings were initiated.'

The couple met at a dinner party in 1994 in Hong Kong, where Joachim was working for the Danish international shipping company Maersk.

After their marriage in November 1995, Alexandra gave up her professional life as a mutual fund manager and dropped her British citizenship for a Danish passport. They have two sons, Princes Nikolai, five, and Felix, two.

The palace said an agreement regarding the separation, custody of the couple's children and alimony had already been reached.

Alexandra, who will keep her royal title after the divorce is finalised, will live in the couple's central Copenhagen apartment with the children, while Joachim will stay at the family's principal residence, Schackenborg Castle,  300km southwest of the capital.

Although Thursday's announcement stood in sharp contrast to the nationwide celebrations in May for the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik, Joachim's older brother, and Australian-born Crown Princess Mary, the popularity of the royal house seemed intact.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a bill to approve an annual royal allowance for Alexandra would be brought to parliament.   Danish lawmakers have previously allocated an annual royal allowance of 2.6 million kroner (HK$3.3 million)  to Joachim and Alexandra. Neither couple holds a traditional job, but both are patrons of dozens of charities.



How Alexandra ran out on Prince Charmless